Prosecutor Lynne Warrington said: “On the first occasion the injured party came home from work. Her phone had died and she couldn’t answer phone calls. This angered the defendant and there was an argument.

“She was lying on the sofa. He took her around the throat and pulled her up towards him. He appeared very angry.”

David Betts pleaded guilty to two charges of assault

The court heard the second assault took place the following day, on October 1 last year. The victim was in bed when the defendant came home just after midnight. Miss Warrington said: “He grabbed hold of her by her shoulder shouting, ‘Who have you had here? Who’s been in bed with you?’

“She was telling him to get off her. He wouldn’t let go. The complainant punched him to the face as, she said, he seemed so drunk she feared what was going to happen.

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“He released her, pushed her onto the bed and began to poke her in the face while verbally abusing her. He said he would set fire to the house, and set fire to her mother’s house.”

Betts, now of no fixed abode, initially denied the two assault charges but later changed his plea to guilty. The court heard he had 10 previous convictions for 20 offences. The assaults put him in breach of a conditional discharge he received for an offence of criminal damage.

Osman Mahmood, mitigating, said: "The relationship had broken down. Mr Betts said he had many issues with the victim himself.